JAMESTOWN (AP) - Katie Klett's title - 2007 American Honey Princess - is fitting, because her life is all about honey bees.

"For as long as I have memory, I've always loved bees and beekeeping," she said. "They're really fascinating insects."

Katie, the daughter of Bill and Wendy Klett, was born in Jamestown and grew up spending every summer and fall in Jamestown and every winter and spring in Sour Lake, Texas, with her parents and their honey bees. She said she has always been totally involved with every aspect of the family business.

Patty Sundberg, chairman of the American Honey Queen Program of the American Beekeeping Federation, said the judges look for poise, appearance and knowledge of beekeeping in awarding the titles of American Honey Queen and Princess.

"She (Klett) is extremely knowledgeable about beekeeping," Sundberg said. "She's passionate about beekeeping, and that comes out when you talk to her."

Klett will have many opportunities to share that passion over the next year. Now a junior at the University of Minnesota, she plans to have her own hives and do research at the university over the summer break. She'll be taking next fall off from college to travel around the United States as the American Honey Princess, raising awareness of beekeeping.

"I feel really lucky, because I love talking about honey bees," Klett said. "So it will be all about bees this next semester."

Bill Klett said his daughter was in grade school when she began helping with some of the simpler beekeeping chores, and he's delighted that she has maintained an interest in the family business.

"She was always pretty enthusiastic," he said.

Bill Klett said Katie has a number of interests, but he believes she will always be involved in beekeeping. Along with honey bees, Katie Klett said she loves studying foreign languages and traveling, and she's found a way to combine all three. She's studying entomology and foreign languages at the university, and spent six months in the winter of 2005-06 in Norway studying the language and Norwegian beekeeping.

In 2008, she plans to spend a year in Beijing, China, to study Mandarin and see what beekeeping is like in China. Another goal is to travel to rural areas in other countries, teaching villagers how to raise honey bees as a business.

Klett said her goal as American Honey Princess is to raise awareness about beekeeping. She said people may not have heard of a problem that has affected bees in Montana, California, Pennsylvania and Texas called colony collapse disorder. It appears the bees vanish from their hives, leaving behind their honey. Researchers are studying this phenomenon, but so far don't know the cause.

So far, she said, colony collapse disorder has not been reported in North Dakota, but should it occur here, the effect on the state could be severe. In a 2004 report by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, North Dakota ranked first among the states in honey production, with a value of more than $35 million.

People should also be aware of the situation because honey bees are an important part of the food chain, Klett said. Without bees to pollinate crops in the field, farmers would be faced with much lower yields, and people everywhere could find that food is in short supply.

"Even if they never crack a lid to a hive, every day their lives are dramatically affected by these wonderful little insects," she said.